Biden: I wish my opponents knew what it was like to be robbed or raped

posted at 12:05 pm on October 19, 2011 by Ed Morrissey

As a gun owner and carry permit holder, I have to appreciate Joe Biden’s passion in advocating for must-issue permit laws across this great nation. CNS News has the audio from a Biden appearance yesterday in Philadelphia, where he rightly noted that self-defense was a key issue, and that opponents to such laws have never had to be on the wrong end of a gun:

“I wish these guys who thought it was temporary, I wish they had some notion of what it was like to be on the other side of a gun, or [to have] a 200-pound man standing over you, telling you to submit,” Biden told a crowd at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia on Tuesday, adding, “Folks, it matter, it matters.”

Bravo, Mr. Vice President, bravo. Americans have the right to bear arms in self-defense, and the police simply can’t fulfill the role of personal bodyguard for the citizenry. It’s about time that our federal government stood up for law-abiding citizens and their claim to the 2nd Amendment in real and practical terms.

What? Biden wasn’t talking about self-defense? What the heck was he talking about? Er … jobs?

“The other thing I’ve hear from my friends who oppose this – this whole jobs bill – [is] that this is just temporary,” Biden said.

“Well let me tell you, it’s not temporary when that 911 call comes in and a woman’s being raped, if a cop shows up in time to prevent the rape. It’s not temporary to that woman,” said Biden. “It’s not temporary to the guy whose store is being held up and there’s a gun pointed at his head, if a cop shows up and he’s not killed. That’s not temporary to that store owner. Give me a break! Temporary. ”

In this scenario, a woman calls 911 and the rapist waits several minutes for police to prevent the rape? Give us a break, Mr. Vice President. Having the proper level of police on hand is critical for keeping the peace, but calls to 9/11 rarely prevent any crime; they just give people the quickest way to get police to respond after a crime has already been committed. If one wants to give law-abiding citizens their best chance for defending themselves against attack, then must-issue permit laws are the quickest, cheapest, and most reliable way to allow it.

Besides, staffing for police departments is the responsibility of state and local governments, not the federal government, and this bill doesn’t put more police on the streets anyway. It allows states to paper over budget gaps for another year rather than address their systemic budgetary issues, and protect unionized bureaucrats whose jobs should be on the chopping block. It’s entirely temporary. Biden’s going for cheap demagoguery here in order to hide the failure of the last stimulus package.

Blowback

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Did they actually poll test this crap? I can’t imagine how they came to the conclusion that this was a good political strategery. Then again, they’re also running with the Elizabeth Warren claim about no rich person making it on their own.

I’d like to remind my fellow commenters that many were practically shitting themselves over the fact that, under a McCain administration, Sarah Palin would have been a heartbeat way from the presidency.

I said it before and I’ll repeat it.
4 weeks ago nobody knew what a 1%r and 99%r was. Then the WH starts parroting them and Romney does a “me, too”. I fully expect Mittens to go down the “we DO have to protect against rape!” path in one week or less.
The WH is figuring out he’s their Pavlovian puppy.

So, somehow funding the EPA, HUD, Education Department, bloated staff of elected officials, billions to foreign countries, SSDI checks to able bodied citizens, and on and on is somehow the same as your local police?

Screw you, Joe.

Gut some of these agencies and the Supreme Hacks who work there. How many 6 figure, virtual no-show jobs are being held in the various agencies and departments that produce absolutely nothing for this country?

Maybe we wouldn’t feel the pressure to have more cops if the current ones didn’t have to respond to those fools who call 911 because their McDonalds nuggets are cold, or because they locked themselves inside their own car.

By the way, I yearn for the day when people stop talking about him as if he’s some kind of dim-but-lovable uncle. The man is a cretin and a moral imbecile. It should be a national disgrace that he’s Vice President.

Out of all the prevented cases of rape how many of them were due to the police? I can’t imagine much to be honest. Yet this group of morons would take away the best tools to stop a rape without a second thoughht.

I have been carjacked & robbed at knifepoint.
I have been shot at.
I have had a gangbanger point a gun at me and threaten to kill me and the only thing I could do (thanks to D.C. gun laws that don’t even permit most security guards to be armed) was tell him to get on with it.

My little sister and my ex have both been raped. I have comforted them and prevented (talked down) the 2nd from suicide as the result of that (in her case repeated) horror.

Police funding has NO effect on either of them. What has an effect is whether they & I have the right to bear arms and defend ourselves.

Again I say Mr. VP go @$%K yourself. And then have your voicebox surgically removed as you’ve obviously had a damn lobotomy.

Can you fathom the moral depravity a person has to have to actually say in public “I wish they had some notion of what it was like to be on the other side of a gun”?
To wish harm and fear upon people who just want the TRUTH about this bill told is disgusting. It’s not a jobs bill – Teachers and police and firefighters are state/local employees. It is NOT up to the Federal Government to pay them at all. Ever.
It is exactly the people who have suffered rape, robbery, violence, and/or death in their lives and the lives of their family – who understand fully the despicable moral depravity of such a lie from the mouth of the Vice President of the United States of America.

As someone who has actually been raped, I could be offended by this, if I was the type of person who let people’s words offend me. However awful that event was, (and it was), these last three years have been 10x more depressing. So, thanks for that, Joe.